Friday, January 31, 2014

Bridges of Madison County Preview (Adultery: The Musical)

Goodness, I love Stephen Pasquale's voice. He is Robert in Bridges of Madison County. He is amazing. (Kelli O'Hara is of course amazing). But then, there is the topic. It's kind of "Adultery, the Musical."
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And the topic is tough. But the music is fantastic and the singing is stunning. STUNNING. To hear Stephen Pasquale sing is a treat. And Kelli O'Hare is fantastic (although a little soprano goes a long way with me).
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My seats were AMAZING. I don't know when or how I got the, but I was 2nd Row center. This picture of the cast bows was taken from my seat without any zoom. Hearing their voices was magical. And the music was great. Buy the album if there is one.
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I wanted it to end at halftime. Everyone was still in a good mood. The lovers love, the family is at the Indiana State Fair - winning ribbons. All is good. But it is the story of a woman cheating on her husband, you know, an affair - so this won't end well somewhere.
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It seems to be one of those stories where the implications are easy to ignore in the book, but seeing it onstage is a little creepy. I don't know that for sure, I didn't read the book or see the movie.
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So maybe the ending isn't as crapy / creepy as it seemed. (highlight only if you don't care about spoilers). Francesca wants to go with the photographer; but stays with her family, even though she doesn't seem to love the husband. Which isn't all that fair to him (the husband), is it? The kids, who were on a rocky path, turn out great because she stayed in the marriage. Although they are 16 and 18 so there really isn't that much parenting left. Hence, the moral of the story is woean only count in as much as their children turn out okay. Which is creepy. At the very least I wanted Francesca to kiss her husband when she decides to stay, but no - she just walks in the Soda Shoppe kind of sad. And this is right after she imagines running into Robert's arms and being happy. But now, she will stay with "Bud" and her two adult children. I didn't get it.

2 comments:

I didn't read the book but saw the movie. Powerhouse performances by Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood but I while came away relieved that she chose her husband in the end I still didn't understand why she would have screwed around on him in the first place. It just didn't seem like it had it coming on any level. It's a bit of a twisted story. --svh